The trash cans were overflowing an hour before kickoff.

After some 10,000 people packed Concord’s Bailey Stadium on the final weekend of the regular season — a 10-7 Wonder win — a similar throng crowded Kannapolis’ Memorial Stadium Friday night for the Class 3A second-round playoff battle.

Fans began lining up at the ticket window around noon for the 7:30 p.m. kickoff. When the gates opened at 4:15, several hundred fans streamed in for optimum seats.

By 7:30, a filled stadium was ready for the much-anticipated clash. By 7:31, more than half of the crowd — on the Wonder side — was silenced by the first of two crucial Kannapolis turnovers.

Things were going so bad for the Wonders in the 20-7 loss that midway though the second quarter, the public address announcer asked the Wonder cheering section, filled with students front and center at the 50-yard line, to sit down so people behind them could see.

There would be little else to cheer for any way, as the Spiders stormed the field for a lengthy celebration. Concord will meet NorthwestCabarrus this Friday in the quarterfinals, three wins away from the state championship.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Concord coach E.Z. Smith did his best Aretha Franklin impression after his team upset Kannapolis on the road.

“Everyone in Concord knows that when you play Kannapolis — win or lose — you’ve played against the best.

“I’d just like for people in Kannapolis to know that when they play Concord — win or lose — they’ve also played one of the best.”

Chances are good that Wonder fans are acknowledging that right now.

Kannapolis was held to its lowest point total since it was shut out on the final game of the 1996 season — by Concord.

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PASSINGITON: Massive Wonder defensive lineman Desmond Williams took Kannapolis’ shocking defeat as hard as any of the Wonders, but even in defeat he showed how much he’s grown this year.

Fifteen minutes after the game, he was grabbing his junior teammates and demanding that they dedicate themselves in the weight room to get ready for next season.

It finished off a remarkable transformation for Williams from class clown to class act.

Williams will play in the Shrine Bowl and showed everyone exactly why he was selected on Friday. He may have improved as much in one season as any Wonder ever.

“I finally figured out this year that no one could help me if I didn’t first help myself,” said Williams, who lost 30 pounds and made himself a college prospect.

A year ago , some Wonder coaches admitted they wouldn’t have given you a dime for Williams. Right now, they wouldn’t take a million dollars for the big fellow.

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STARSEARCH: Eyebrows were raised when Concord QB Jamel Jackson was named to the Shrine Bowl squad last week as a DB.

But Jackson showed against the Wonders that he needed to be on the team in some capacity. He’s no Mario Sturdivant as a passer, but he runs the ball extremely hard and is also a force at cornerback.

“He showed tonight why he’s in the Shrine Bowl,” said Concord coach E.Z.Smith. “There’s no question, he’s one of the best athletes in the state.”

“Jackson is just so fast on his feet” said Williams, who will be glad to be on Jackson’s side in the Shrine Bowl. “You think you’ve got him, but then he shakes free. He’s unbelievably hard to tackle.”

Multiple Wonders bounced off Jackson all night. Even Wonder linebacker Josh Lee, who rarely misses a tackle on anyone, had a tough time with Jackson. On several occasions, Lee correctly guessed the Concord snap count and burst through the line in position to sack Jackson, but couldn’t get him on the ground.

Jackson actually scored the clinching TD on a 17-yard busted play with five minutes left. He just kept running over people until he found the end zone.

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HARDTOFIGURE: Kannapolis coach Bruce Hardin said he had no indication during the week’s practices that the Wonders were going to collapse mentally against Concord in the first 10 minutes, when they spotted the Spiders a 14-0 lead.

“We felt good all week long,” said Hardin. “We pushed them the same as every week, but we were careful not to push too much. You can’t win the game on the practice field.”

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FUTUREPLANS: It’s widely assumed in Kannapolis that Hardin has coached his last season, although he has not made any official statement to that effect.

But defensive coordinator Bill Wightman has definitely coached his final game at the school. Wightman has served as a coach for the Wonders since 1978 and was involved in Kannapolis state championship games in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1997.

Wightman showed his class right to the end. Several of the Wonders were so shaken by Friday’s defeat that they were walking around in a daze as the teams started the traditional postgame handshakes.

Wightman went over, rounded them up and made sure that each Wonder made the full handshake tour.

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COMEBACKKIDS: Concord started out this season, looking as if it had no chance to make the playoffs.

Concord’s defense was slaughtered by Monroe and Lincolnton in its first two games. Then the Spiders, who lost top running back Josh Lott to injury very early, had a rough time subduing a Salisbury team, which would finish 0-11.

“The problems we had were because everything was new,” said Smith. “We had 17 new starters and we had five new coaches.

“But we made some adjustments and never stopped believing. And now, here we are.”

Where the Spiders are, is getting ready to oppose a Northwest team that it doesn’t like any more than it does Kannapolis.

“It’s going to be another tough, physical contest,” said Smith.

Northwest beat Concord 7-3 in their regular season South Piedmont Conference clash.

“There is no dominant team in 3A, so either of those teams can win the state championship.” said Wightman. “We wish both of them well and know they will represent our league well.”

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GOODGROUP: While the Wonders bowed out of the playoffs, much earlier than expected, Hardin gave high marks to the team in many areas. In terms of personality and work ethic it was clearly one of his favorites.

“It was the first time that we didn’t have a single unexcused missed practice by a starter,”he said. “It was a team I could be proud of.”

Hardin is 121-24 in his 11 years at Kannapolis. He has two state titles, 10 playoff appearances, and has won at least 11 games seven times. The Wonders are 40-3 over the last three seasons.

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MOVINGON: Justin Hardin’s third interception of the year came on the last pass of his high school career, a desperation heave which fittingly enough, landed in the arms of the game’s dominant player — Jackson.

It was the first pick Hardin had thrown since opening night. In between, the threw 17 touchdown passes.

Hardin, who set the school single-season TD pass record of 23 as a junior, said after the game that his career will continue next season.

“There are some schools that are recruiting me to play quarterback,” he said. “So I’ll definitely be playing somewhere.”

The only question about Hardin is his height, which is just under six feet. There are no questions about his arm, mobility and brains.

As soon as Davie County’s football season ended in the mountains last week with a 28-7 loss to the Asheville Reynolds Rockets, War Eagle quarterback Drew Ridenhour wasn’t thinking of postseason awards.

He was thinking about his knee.

Ridenhour, a 6-3 quarterback, tore his anterior cruciate ligament early in the season. He actually played better after the injury but now, it’s time to get it fixed.

“I’m going to have surgery as soon as I can,” Ridenhour said afterward. “I’ve got to get ready for baseball.”

As highly-recruited as Ridenhour is in football, the same goes for baseball. He should be the best pitcher and catcher in the Central Piedmont Conference this spring.

Despite the fact ACLs usually take around six months to heal, Ridenhour says he will be ready.

“(The doctors) can’t tell me I can’t ready for baseball,” he said.

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FOOTBALLINTEREST: Ridenhour said among the schools recruiting him in football are East Carolina and South Carolina.

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PHANTOMTACKLER: Zeke Earle played the last game of his high school career Friday but he’ll remember a play in the fourth quarter.

Earle, a senior, was running back a fumble down the A.C. Reynolds sidelines when Rocket safety Mac Anderson seemed to come off the bench and impede his progress.

“He didn’t tackle me, but he just ran out in front of me,” Earle marveled. “I knew that if he came out on the field, it was a TD.”

Earle eventually went out of bounds but raced toward the officials to complain. So did Davie coach Doug Illing and his staff. But to no avail.

“The ref said he wasn’t watching him, he was watching me,” said Earle.

“I said, ‘He was right in front of you!’”

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PROUDDAVIE: Earle was one of 19 seniors playing their last game.

“I’m really proud of us getting to the second round of the playoffs with a lot of young guys in the lineup,” he said. “And we won the conference championship. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

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MOTT’SSTORY: Davie didn’t have a chance to face A.C. Reynolds’ first-string quarterback Chris Mott because of an unusual set of circumstances.

A couple of weeks earlier, Mott felt faint at practice. His ankles and calves began to swell. He missed the Rockets’ first playoff win over South Rowan.

Athletic director Don Johnson said at first, they thought it might be mononucleosis. Then, it was discovered he had Lupus, a blood disorder.

Mott was hospitalized first and then was supposedly bed-ridden. But a van rolled into the end zone before the game with Davie. It was Mott.

He went into the dressing room for a postgame talk and then watched his teammates win by 21.

“He has been in our minds and hearts since he was hospitalized two weeks ago,” Poss said. “We don’t practice, play or lift without thinking of him.”

Mott will be able to watch his teammates again this Friday. When Anson County defeated West Charlotte Friday, it gave Asheville Reynolds another home game.

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CLASSACT: When Illing called the senior class “tremendous” he was kidding. The players that made up the class were the best in school history.

In three years, they went 27-11.